The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

The Lantern is Deborah Lawrenson's sixth novel. It is being hailed as a modern gothic novel. The Lantern includes romance, a mystery, an old house in the south of France and a possible haunting.

Meeting Dom was the most incredible thing that had ever happened to me. When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom in Switzerland, their whirlwind relationship leads them to Les GenÉvriers, an abandoned house set among the fragrant lavender fields of the South of France. Each enchanting day delivers happy discoveries: hidden chambers, secret vaults, a beautiful wrought-iron lantern. Deeply in love and surrounded by music, books, and the heady summer scents of the French countryside, Eve has never felt more alive.

But with autumn’s arrival the days begin to cool, and so, too, does Dom. Though Eve knows he bears the emotional scars of a failed marriage -- one he refuses to talk about -- his silence arouses suspicion and uncertainty. The more reticent Dom is to explain, the more Eve becomes obsessed with finding answers -- and with unraveling the mystery of his absent, beautiful ex-wife, Rachel.